1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to recording apparatuses such as facsimile machines, printers, and the like, and relates particularly to recording apparatuses provided with an ink absorption material that absorbs ink discarded (uselessly ejected) from a recording head.
2. Related Art
Hereinafter, an ink jet printer will be given as a specific example of a recording apparatus, which is typically exemplified by facsimile devices, printers, and so on. Some ink jet printers are configured so as to be capable of executing what is known as borderless recording, in which recording is performed without white margins on the four sides of recording paper in order to obtain output results similar to silver halide photographs.
With an ink jet printer capable of executing such borderless recording, ink is also ejected onto regions that are outside of the edges of the recording paper (that is, ink is discarded (uselessly ejected) hereinafter called “discarded”). Accordingly, a concave portion is formed in a paper support member that is provided opposite to an ink jet recording head and that regulates the distance between the recording paper and the ink jet recording head by supporting the recording paper, the concave portion being formed in a region of the paper support member where ink is discarded.
An ink absorption material that absorbs the discarded ink is disposed in this concave portion, and a discharge hole that discharges the ink absorbed by the ink absorption material downward is formed at the base of the concave portion. Through this, the ink absorbed by the ink absorption material is discharged from the discharge hole toward a waste liquid tray disposed therebelow.
Meanwhile, regardless of borderless recording, ink jet printers are often provided with a discard region for discarding ink (for example, an ink discarding hole for flushing operations (empty ejection)). Ink that has been discarded in the ink discard region is, in the same manner as described above, discharged toward the waste liquid tray.
An ink absorption material that absorbs ink is disposed within this waste liquid tray, and thus the ink does not leak out from the waste liquid tray even if the apparatus is tilted, thereby holding the ink within the waste liquid tray (for example, see JP-A-2004-9700).
Incidentally, pigment-based inks and dye-based inks exist as inks that are ejected by ink jet recording heads, and by nature, a pigment-based ink does not permeate well into an ink absorption material. Accordingly, depending on a situation, the ink cannot completely permeate into the ink absorption material, and hardens on the surface of the ink absorption material as a result; as this process is repeated, hardened ink gradually accumulates on the surface of the ink absorption material.
The amount of accumulated hardened ink will increase until eventually it reaches the back surface of recording paper supported by a paper support member, and there is thus the risk that the back surface of the recording paper will be soiled, resulting in a remarkable drop in the recording quality. Such problems are not limited to the ink absorption material disposed on the paper support member that supports the recording paper, but also occur in the ink absorption material disposed below the paper support member.